A former deputy warden at Rikers Island was arrested after she shot and critically wounded her son during a family argument at their Long Island home, police said yesterday.

Eileen Borenstein, 60, a widow, ordered her 26-year-old son, Brian, out of the Hicksville house after a series of arguments allegedly about him abusing drugs and taking her car without permission, said Nassau County Homicide Squad commander Detective Lt. Frank Guidice.

In the violence Monday night, an exasperated Borenstein and her unemployed son got into a shoving match and the son broke a kitchen window, police said.

She went upstairs and got her licensed .38-caliber handgun, came back downstairs and shot her son in the arm, Guidice said.

But the bullet entered his chest and struck several major organs. He collapsed and was taken to Nassau County Medical Center.

Brian Borenstein was in critical but stable condition in the hospital’s intensive-care unit yesterday.

Mrs. Borenstein retired from the city Department of Correction after 27 years on the job. Her late husband had been a department captain.

“Unfortunately, I think she had a major lapse in judgment,” Guidice said. “She took an inappropriate action to remedy a difficult situation.”